How to Remount a CD-ROM in Ubuntu

Ubuntu and other distributions of Linux have to mount CD-ROMs, USB flash drives, hard drive partitions and other media before accessing the files on them. Ubuntu automatically mounts removable media devices when they're inserted. You can remount mounted CD-ROMs with the "mount" command. Remounting allows users to change the mount options of the device. For example, users can restrict access to the CD-ROM by requiring permissions or allow all users to unmount the CD-ROM.

Close any programs that are using the CD-ROM.

Open a terminal window by clicking the Ubuntu logo at the top-left corner of the desktop, typing "Terminal" into the search box that appears at the top of the screen and pressing "Enter."

Type "sudo mount -o remount,ro /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom" into the terminal window, replacing "/mnt/cdrom" with the mount point of your CD-ROM, if it's different, and press "Enter."

Type your password at the password prompt and press "Enter."

Tips & Warnings

If you want to remount the file system with different mount options, specify them with a comma after "ro." For example, "sudo mount -o remount,ro,users /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom" will allow non-root users to mount and unmount the CD-ROM.

Click the "Applications" menu, click "Accessories" and click "Terminal" if you're using an older version of the Ubuntu desktop.